A Man With An Agenda

'Little Eyes' follows many people around the world as they become apart of the "kentucki" craze. Kentucki are little plush covered robots that come in many types and colors, but they offer something unique: an actual person is behind the controls. Each high-priced Kentucki can only be activated once - once a connection is broken it can't be made again - and there is no control over who might be behind the camera eyes of the little robots. People can pay less and be a "dweller" inside a kentucki.

This was a great, paranoid look at the consequences of our exposure to strangers and the little machines we put so much trust in. Reading it, I kept thinking how absurd the situation is - would people really pay so much to invite a stranger into their lives? Of course, we already do.

Schweblin ricochets across the globe, following a few consistently and others with only a single chapter. Young and old are drawn into this voyeuristic world, making assumptions about what they see and do. The kentucki can be playful, or insidious, and they all bring about unintended consequences.

This is a quick and disturbing read. I hope to see more of this Argentinian author translated into English.